Welcome Chance Intrusions!
Lateral Thinking in Social Dance
Richard Powers
I once heard this theory:
- East Coast dancers focus on definitions and rules, categorizing then standardizing the categorization. Does
it belong in this box or that box? Which style is correct? So there is understandably an emphasis on
technique, more specifically on defining and enforcing one correct technique.
- West Coast dancers focus more on the way dance feels — the subjective experience of dancing. How does it
impact us? How can we enhance the experience for our partners? West Coast thinking therefore embraces more
creativity and flexibility, to adapt to partners who are different from our own style.
Is this theory true?
No. There are too many exceptions — many rule-based dancers living on the West Coast, and many adaptive,
experienced-based dancers living on the East Coast, like the history of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem for example.
And the theory ignores the dancers between the coasts.
These two kinds of thinking do exist, but the geographical division is an oversimplification. It's more accurate
to think of it as a difference between vertical thinking versus lateral thinking, which can happen anywhere.
Vertical and Lateral Thinking
These terms were coined by the theoretician Edward deBono who wrote:
- Vertical thinking is selective, lateral thinking is generative—generating new possibilities.
- Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways (leading to the jokes about "illegal moves" in strictly
ballroom dance). Lateral thinking does not restrict, but seeks to open up new pathways.
- Correctness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking.
- Vertical thinking moves only if there are directions on how to move. Lateral thinking moves in order to generate directions.
- Vertical thinking depends heavily on the rigidity of definitions. It often depends on identifying something
as a member of some class or excluding it from that class. If something is given a label or put into a class,
it is supposed to stay there. With lateral thinking, classifications and categories are not fixed pigeonholes,
but signposts to help navigation.
- Lateral thinking welcomes chance intrusions. With lateral thinking one welcomes outside influences
for their provocative action. And a key word here is to
welcome—not merely tolerate—chance intrusions into what you're expecting. The most innovative
minds respond with enhanced curiosity—even delight— when something
unexpected happens.
Welcoming chance intrusions is a fundamental component of creative thinking, and of social dancing. Lateral-thinking
dancers see differences from what they expected to happen as opportunities, not mistakes.
We all use vertical thinking. It's impossible not to. But lateral thinking has mostly been sidelined in traditional
education, and thus needs some compensatory attention.
The psychologist Carl Gustav Jung believed that we are all born with the capability to integrate both kinds of thought. Jung
would argue that using all of our mind is natural, and that denying half of its capabilities is unnatural. The point of deBono's
writing was to encourage lateral thinking, in order to balance what remains of a cultural bias, not to condemn vertical
thinking. Both work together.
Vertical and lateral thinking in dance
Social dance requires a lot of lateral thinking to be successful. Lateral thinking enables us to adapt to the constantly
changing situations found on the dance floor, while adapting to differences in our partners. Lateral thinking enhances the
creativity and self-expression of social dancing.
Mistakes while dancing are a good example of engaging both kinds of thinking. As you might know from this page, in social dancing, mistakes are
accepted as inevitable. Social dancers laugh them off and move on, happy if things work out 80% of the time. And the
other 20% is when most learning happens.
What do we want to learn? Not to ever make that kind of mistake again? Yes, some kinds of mistakes are unsafe or potentially painful, and should
be avoided. Consciously limiting those options uses vertical thinking, which isn't a bad thing. But we also want to open doors to
new possibilities. Maybe the Lead or Follow accidentally created something that was fun and didn't feel wrong. And we learn
how to keep moving through a mistake, adapting to the ongoing dance. Those dynamics use lateral thinking.
Stress
Lateral thinking also helps de-stress our life. When dancing, we learn that if things don't work out one way, they'll work
out another way. That's lateral thinking in action, and it applies to everyday life as well. If we think that only one
outcome is acceptable, that's when we start to stress ourselves, while also stressing others, to comply with that one
outcome. Being open to alternate possibilities significantly de-stresses our lives. Any time we can say "OK, I can live
with that" is a victory over stress. As mentioned on this page, we occasionally may need to take an ethical stand, and
insist on an outcome. Vertical thinking is useful in those rare instances. But in our everyday lives, the stress-reducing
effect of flexible, lateral thinking is usually the best approach to most situations.
Social dance forms
Most of our noncompetitive social dances were created as lateral thinking dance forms, like swing, tango, blues, nightclub
two-step, cross-step waltz, hustle, salsa and bachata. Those were all vernacular ("grass roots") dances, born in cultures
which valued spontaneity, flexibility and individuality. The original spirit of those dances would be lost if their freedom
and spontaneity were to be replaced by an emphasis on rules and restrictions.
According to original Whitey's Lindy Hoppers superstar Leon James, "Want to dance Lindy hop correctly? Then don't be real concerned about 'correctness'!"
Skippy Blair wrote the following while describing West Coast Swing, but she could have been writing about any social dance:
The most fascinating part of swing dancing is the individuality of the dancers. Stylings are flexible… the style one chooses should be as individual as the clothes one chooses to wear. The only problem that exists in swing is when someone decides there is only ONE WAY to dance it. (The caps were hers.)
Lateral thinking keeps that spirit alive.
More thoughts and musings